Will Wooten, Candice Bernd and Ron Seifert
are organizers with the Tar Sands Blockade.

On July 27, TransCanada Corporation announced
that it had received the last permit required before breaking ground on the Gulf
Coast Segment of the Keystone XL pipeline. Although this news elicited many
emotions among landowners and local communities, surprise was not among them.
The campaign to stop the pipeline is now entering its fifth year, and pipeline opponents
everywhere are mobilizing.

The Tar Sands Blockade is a peaceful direct
action campaign designed to unite everyone and anyone committed to stopping the
pipeline. We stand in solidarity with landowners in Texas and Oklahoma whose
property rights have been trampled, as well as with communities whose health and safety are being imperiled. And
it’s not just local communities along the pipeline route who stand to be harmed.
First Nations communities downriver from tar sands extraction sites in Alberta,
Canada, are suffering
from abnormally high cancer rates. Meanwhile, Keystone XL would threaten us
all by opening the floodgates to the largest untapped reserve of carbon in
North America.

Why Direct Action?

In 2008, TransCanada was granted the extraordinary power of eminent domain—the ability
to legally condemn and appropriate private property—and the corporation
immediately leveraged it to pressure landowners into signing contracts.
“TransCanada lied to me from day one,” says East Texas landowner Susan Scott.
“They bullied me and said either I sign their papers or they’d take me to
court.”

According to the
Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, eminent domain may be used only for
projects that serve a public use or purpose. The Texas Landowners
Bill of Rights, too, says that property can be taken only for public use. Yet
at no point did Texas officials verify that TransCanada’s pipeline would do
either. The fact that Texas officials granted a foreign corporation the power
of eminent domain without ever requiring them to demonstrate public use is
unconscionable. As a result, landowners like Susan did what most people would
do: they appealed to local representatives and regulators for help.

Dozens of people attended the
Keystone Convergence training....They ranged in age from twenties to seventies, in political
positions from left to right, and in experience from newbies to veteran
activists.

Unfortunately, their lobbying,
letter writing, and testimony at public hearings fell on deaf ears.
All of our representatives, both state or federal, are beholden to the oil and
gas industry. Not one opposes the Gulf Coast Segment. Our public
officials have been captured, rendering useless all traditional means of
addressing our grievances. There
is but one tactic left powerful enough to withstand the weight of TransCanada’s
heavy hammer: nonviolent direct action.

Putting Differences
Aside

Blocking the Gulf Coast Segment with human bodies is not going to be easy. Fortunately,
the campaign’s momentum has been building for years, as demonstrated by the overwhelming
response to the launch of the Tar Sands Blockade website
and the popularity of our Twitter and Facebook postings. Some of that support
comes from the landmark sit-in action at the White House that took place in
2011, followed weeks later by an enormous rally in Washington, D.C. That event provided
a groundswell of energy and a network of participants eager to take the next
steps. The Tar Sands Blockade is uniting these passionate individuals with landowners along the proposed
pipeline route. We invite anyone willing to line up, as equals, to join us in civil disobedience.

Dozens of people took us up on that offer and attended the
Keystone Convergence training weekend from July 27 to 29. Despite the late-July
Texas heat, participants spent
two full days discussing action plans and support roles, and practicing nonviolent
blockade techniques. The enthusiasm on display was remarkable, and so was the diversity
of participants. They ranged in age from twenties to seventies, in political
positions from left to right, and in experience from newbies to veteran
activists.

In an age of political polarization, it was refreshing to
see older, self-identified Tea Party members who deeply value property rights
literally holding hands and linking arms with bright-eyed young environmentalists
and Occupiers, some of whom owned nothing but their clothes and the food in
their travel packs. The traditional categories often applied to climate justice
activists break down when we look at the coalition of pipeline resisters now
ready and willing to put their bodies on the line.

It is once again time for
ordinary people to act collectively in the proud American tradition of civil
disobedience to confront this injustice.

Even more surprising than the diversity of supporters is
that this call to action comes from the heart of oil country. Texas and
Oklahoma would seem unlikely places from which to recruit a team of anti-pipeline
activists. Nonetheless, the din of outspoken landowners is finally reaching
sympathetic ears across the nation. David Daniel, another East Texas landowner,
knows as well as anyone what it feels like to have elected officials refuse to
listen to legitimate grievances. “I have been told by too many people that even
though I am right, these multinational companies have too much money and power,”
he said. “They say I can’t fight and win, that I just have to let the pipeline
happen and try to make the best of it.” David finds this unacceptable, and so
do we. We hope that you do, too.

The next chapter
in the Keystone XL pipeline story is being written now, and it has the makings
of a thrilling climax. The Tar Sands Blockade team recognizes that this story
is far more complex than a simple conflict of economic versus environmental
interests. This pipeline is too dangerous to exist. It threatens our health,
security, and constitutionally protected rights.

The truth is that
the Keystone XL story is about injustice, and it is once again time for
ordinary people to act collectively in the proud American tradition of civil
disobedience to confront this injustice. We must rely on nonviolent direct
action as a proven method for seeking justice so that, finally, we the people
can close the book on the Keystone XL pipeline.

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Will Wooten, Candice Bernd and Ron Seifert wrote this article for YES! Magazine a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas and practical actions. They
are organizers with the Tar Sands Blockade.